Massive Toronto condos will be 'sculptures for people' <http://www.cbc.ca/> Description: CBCCBC
Art impresario David Mirvish and architect Frank Gehry say three 80-storey
condo towers they plan to build side by side in downtown Toronto will be
works of art unlike anything the city has ever seen.
"These towers can become a symbol of what Toronto can be," Mirvish said
Monday at a news conference. "I am not building condominiums. I am building
three sculptures for people to live in.
The plans, which have yet to be approved and will go through a community
consultation, would lead to a dramatic overhaul of a landmark section of
King Street West, including the elimination of the Princess of Wales
Theatre.
In addition to the three towers, the complex would include university
studios, free museums, art galleries and private businesses.
Mirvish has been working with the Toronto-born Gehry, the architect behind
the new Art Gallery of Ontario, for more than a year. Both men stressed
their Toronto roots at the news conference.
Mirvish was at pains to say he wasn't abandoning art or the theatre.
Im not retreating from the theatre at all," he said. "Im as involved in
the theatre as Ive ever been and Ill be deeper involved because thats
what I do. I do theatre, I do art, and Im interested in saying who we are
as people through architecture. And on that basis I went to Frank Gehry.
Mirvish said in a letter Sunday that the towers "will be grounded by stepped
podiums that will house a large, new public gallery called the Mirvish
Collection, a new campus for the OCAD University, and planted terraces that
will create a green silhouette overlooking King Street."
Gehry said the miniature models that show his plans for the site are only
works in progress.
If you show any kind of architecture at these early stages that represent
anything outside the norm, they get clobbered because people say, 'You cant
do that,'" he said.
Gehry said he wants the first six storeys to deliver a feel of "old
Toronto." The towers will each have a different character, and have a sense
of movement.
Gehry said he hopes to deliver an "architectural project thats different
than what youve seen in Toronto to date."
One of the towers will be built alongside the Royal Alexandra Theatre, while
the remaining two will be constructed in the area bordered by Pearl, John
and King streets and Ed Mirvish Way.
Mirvish estimates the project will take three to seven years to complete,
through several phases.
Adam Vaughan, the city councillor whose ward is home to the proposed condo
project, said a formal application will soon be filed and a community
consultation process would follow.
"This building in particular, though, is a very complex construction site
and touches a number of very difficult projects in the city," Vaughan told
CBC News in an interview on Sunday.
"And so how we build it is going to be as critical as to how we process the
application."
Christopher Hume, architecture critic for the Toronto Star, said Gehry's
participation in the project is exciting but that the development also
indicates problems with the city's theatre scene.
"Why is this happening? Clearly, if David Mirvish is doing this and willing
to sacrifice a theatre he built 20 years ago, then clearly things don't seem
to be working out quite so well down there."
The Princess of Wales Theatre will need to be demolished just two decades
after Mirvish and his father built it and opened it to the public.
"If there were a way of completing this project without removing the
Princess of Wales Theatre, we would have followed it," Mirvish said Sunday.
"But after careful consideration and many different plans, I decided not
giving Gehry a full canvas on which to work would have meant compromises
that would have lessened the power of the project."
Construction of the 2,000-seat theatre began in August 1991, according to
the Mirvish Productions website.
Mirvish said the theatre, which opened in 1993, was meant to be a temporary
venue for big productions like Miss Saigon.
"This wasn't an easy decision. It has always been my philosophic position
that one should never tear down a theatre, even if it isn't fully
operational, because a community that is healthy and growing will eventually
find its way to use the theatre," he said.
Mirvish said some of the artwork in the theatre by American painter Frank
Stella will be saved and incorporated into the new project.
While Mirvish Productions currently operates three other theatres in
Toronto, in addition to the Princess of Wales Theatre, David Mirvish said he
would be willing to build a new theatre to replace the latter if need be.
"Finally, if we find we need yet another facility, I will be prepared to
build a new theatre," Mirvish said.
"I have done that before and I will be willing to do it again."
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